Why is the Body Mass Index so Important
First thing first, let’s talk about the body Mass Index (BMI). The CDC describes the BMI as “a reliable indicator of body fatness … used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.” And it is their preferred method of measuring obesity. Most people, including many doctors, seem to agree however, that BMI is not particularly accurate since it does not include any factor for muscularity or frame size. For instance, let’s look at my stats. I am a fairly muscular guy weighing in at 214 with a 50 plus inch chest and 34 inch waist. However my BMI is 31.6 which classifies me as obese. Even though I recently lost 35 pounds using P90X Workout . I have to get down to 204 just to be considered overweight.
Why does this matter to you? With the way things are already, your BMI may have a direct effect on your health and life insurance costs and possibly on whether or not you even qualify for coverage. Certainly this is true if you are trying to find private insurance for yourself or your family. But more and more frequently now, it can also have an impact on insurance provided through your employer. Many companies today set the percentage their employees pay based on their BMI. This is typically disguised as discounts for the healthy employees. Some businesses, especially hospitals are beginning mandate that overweight employees go through fitness counseling and show certain amounts of progress every year.
To make matters worse, now the government is getting into the BMI game as well. Section 3001 of the 2009 economic stimulus law mandates that by 2014, everybody in the United States must have an Electronic Health Record (EHR). In addition, it was reported on Thursday (July 15, 2010) that your EHR shall record your BMI as well as the standard measures of height and weight. I hesitate to speculate as to why at this point, but the possibilities are ominous. We could each face additional taxation or be refused certain treatments based on this inaccurate metric.
This said, I urge each of you to start working now to get into reasonable shape before 2014. Loose those extra pounds before it really costs you. I started my fitness journey with P90X and am continuing the Insanity workout and Turbo Fire workout. I chose these methods because they are all in one packages which include nutrition and workout guides. They eliminate the guess work and make it simple to follow. You may choose some other method. But you need to choose something now. Everyone realizes the most obvious needs for losing weight like better overall health and a longer, more productive life. You can also add saving money and government control to the list.
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